ROSE BOWL: ROSE BOWL NO PARADE FOR OKLAHOMA FOR SOONERS, ANYTHING LESS THAN NATIONAL TITLE LETDOWN.

Byline: Gabe Lacques Staff Writer

Oklahoma arrived Wednesday night to begin preparations for the Rose Bowl, one year later than the Sooners would have preferred.

The Sooners (11-2), winners of the Big 12 Conference, aren't about to downplay their first appearance in Pasadena on New Year's Day. Their game against No. 7 Washington State will be another benchmark for one of college football's most storied programs.

But when you've won seven national championships, including one just two seasons ago, and will play Jan. 1 or later for the third consecutive year, the bar is raised just a little bit.

``Sooner Nation is pretty proud,'' Oklahoma quarterback Nate Hybl said shortly after the team's traveling party arrived at their Century City hotel. ``If we're not playing for the national championship, everyone there gets mad. But to be in the Orange and Cotton bowls and to end my career in the Rose Bowl is amazing.''

It has been a prosperous three-year run for the Sooners, who went 13-0 and won the Orange Bowl during their 2000 national championship season. They had visions of a repeat last season, and were two victories away from qualifying for the Rose Bowl, the designated national title game.

But a loss in the regular-season finale to Oklahoma State scuttled those hopes, and the Sooners settled for a Cotton Bowl victory over Arkansas.

So while the Sooners looked as wide-eyed as any visitor when they got off their chartered buses Wednesday, going 34-4 the past three seasons means their bowl experiences have runneth over.

``Three-fourths of the players on this team played for the national championship two years ago,'' Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said. ``Being in the Orange Bowl national championship game is a little bigger. That is in no way slighting the Rose Bowl. We understand the long-standing traditions out here, and we respect them.''

Stoops said the eighth-ranked Sooners came out of their Big 12 championship victory over Colorado healthy. And unlike Washington State, they won't have the distraction of a lame-duck coach hovering over them this week.

But Stoops isn't expecting the Mike Price-to-Alabama saga to weigh on the Cougars this week or detract from their game-day performance.

``The bottom line is, we're going to look at 11 guys on the other side of the field,'' he said. ``There's mixed emotions I'm sure, but that's for them to deal with. They're very sound, and they've got a loaded gun at quarterback (Jason Gesser). And their running game doesn't get enough credit.''

The Sooners flew out of Oklahoma City around 4 p.m. Central time Wednesday and arrived at their hotel in time for a team holiday dinner, which followed the traditional greeting from the Rose Court. They will practice at Loyola Marymount beginning today, and will tape an appearance on The Tonight Show this evening. Both teams will visit Disneyland on Friday.

``This is my first trip to California,'' said Hybl, a Georgia native. ``I don't want to sound like a country bumpkin, but it's nice to see palm trees again.''

And the chance to establish another first for a storied program is always alluring.

``We have seven national championships,'' Stoops said. ``What we don't have is a Rose Bowl championship.''